


Dandelion.

by Beaniebeaniebeanie



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Mutual Pining, No Proofreading We Die Like Men, Ruthari are best dads, Slow Burn, Viren Is Evil, wbk tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24222973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beaniebeaniebeanie/pseuds/Beaniebeaniebeanie
Summary: “𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐲. 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥.”Basically, this is just the Rayllum zombie apocalypse au I never knew I needed and impulsively wrote because of quarantine.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Ethari/Runaan (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	Dandelion.

“ _Rayla, your father and I love you. So much._ ”

She doesn’t remember a lot, when it comes to thinking of the day she lost her parents. It wasn’t like it happened a long time ago, it must have been at least three weeks, but she can’t remember anything.

Well. Almost anything. The words her mother and father told her had stuck, but the rest was all a distant and confusing memory she couldn’t access. It’s not like she _wanted_ to remember their death, she just found it odd that she was unable too.

Although, Ethari _had_ mentioned something about how the trauma could be forcing her brain to lock it out of her mind, refuse to let any of the memories in to preserve her own good mental health, a bunch of shite like that.

” _You know that we do, but listen to me Ray. You have to run now. You don’t stop running - you don’t even look back, until you know that you’re not being chased anymore_.”

She remembers how frantic her mother’s tone had grown. How her father was struggling to keep the door held shut. She remembers how he braved it, the way he feigned a weak smile at her when she looked to him for reassurance. If there is one thing that was lodged into her mind, it was that her parents were brave. The bravest people she will ever know.

_What about you?_

” _We’ll always be with you_.”

The more she thinks about it, the more she’s _certain_ she’d heard his voice waver. Of course, she didn’t have time to think about it then, because her mother had already pushed her out the door with a barely audible apology and slammed it shut, leaving her with only one option.

She turned away from the door and ran.

And she _hates_ herself for it _._ Maybe if she’d have stayed behind, she could’ve helped them. She isn’t weak, she’s far from it, they died stopping the creatures from getting her.. and honestly, she feels like she could’ve prevented it. Their death feels like a waste.

“Rayla, Runaan’s back.”

Etharis voice startles her out of her own thoughts and she stares at him for a moment, letting herself process what she said and finally catching up with it, nodding with a quiet sigh. Since she lost her parents, she’d ran to Runaan and Etharis’ home.

Really, she’d met them half way there, Ethari had coincidentally wanted to check on Tiadrin, Lain and Rayla at the time, so they’d been driving to the girls home anyway. She’s lucky it worked out that way, albeit the fact finding them was definitely a good thing for her, it was also incredibly frightening. Ethari was surprisingly calm, considering everything that happened. He’d comforted Rayla the moment she hopped in the car with them, she’d openly sobbed about it whilst he murmured quiet apologies, but that was all a facade. Runaan had his own front too, he blocked everything out, refused to even let it get to him in the first place, but both of them were just trying to save her from seeing the only adults she had left have an emotional breakdown. Tiadrin and Lain were their best friends, after all.

Ethari had cried behind closed doors, had smashed things in his room and weeped in the late hours of the night, unaware of Rayla being awake in the first place. Runaan seemed to go almost numb when the two were brought up, he didn’t respond or even engage in conversation, he was trying to be a pillar of strength, for Rayla and Ethari, but at some point he would have to collapse.  
  


She pushes back from the table she’s sat at, grimacing at the sound of the chair leg grinding against the floor, glancing to Ethari with an apologetic grin, deciding to leave the chair out, rather than pushing it back, just to save the twos ears.

“Are you goin’ to shout at him for takin’ so long?” She teases, because despite everything happening around them, it’s difficult to cope if you stay in the dark, refusing to let things carry on as normal - if you don’t move forwards, you can’t escape the darkness in the first place. There’s no hope like that.

”Aye. Unless he has some genuine reasonin’ this time.” The other man nods as he walks to the top of the stairs with the girl in tow, letting her go down first before he does. Whilst the craftsman tries not to let it show, it terrifies him every moment Runaan is away. The.. infection, gets worse by the day, the human population is dwindling and soon, Ethari doesn’t doubt that it will pass into the bigger cities they live by, like Katolis, for example.

”Maybe some wee zombie dog held him up.” She snorts, opening the front door and rushing out to go help Runaan bring the things he’d gathered from his car. It worries her too, when he goes out, but one of them has to do it and she knows it’s best that he does. He’s the most experienced between them when it comes to self defence, or just.. killing, in general.

Even when these creatures are hurting the people she loves, when they’re taking unnecessary lives, she can’t bring herself to kill them. They aren’t aware of what they’re doing, they used to be people just like her.

Thats what the news says anyway. The knowledge of the infection is limited, severely. There’s no cure, no theory - they don’t even know where it began, by the time people took notice the majority of villages and towns had already lost the majority of their population to it.

She looks up at Runaan as she hoists a bag over her shoulder, waiting as he shuts his car boot before they can walk back inside together.

”Ethari’s pissed.” She hums, eyes searching his expression for any reaction, though there was barely anything except for the _slight_ quirks of his brow.

”Is he now?”

She nods.

At least he _sounds_ curious about it. It’s rare for Ethari to ever lose his temper, but on the rare occasion he does, the man is not a force to be reconciled with. Runaan knows that well enough. Rayla? Not so much. She hasn’t seen the.. explosive, side to Ethari. Even with the dire situation they’re in, he tries not to be _negative_ in front of her.

She pushes the door open with her free hand, letting Runaan inside who nods a brief thank you before dumping his own bags down on the floor, turning to take the one from Rayla as she hands it over and shuts the door, eyes flitting to an unimpressed Ethari who is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

“What’s this about you being mad at me, my heart?” Runaan asks, looking to his husband with a barely discernible smirk playing on his lips. Ethari is the only man that Runaan is soft too. Of course, he has a soft spot for Rayla. He had a soft spot for Tiadrin and Lain, but the Runaan they all know was still rather closed off. Except Ethari knew everything the man had to offer. He knew his true personality, his preferences, his thoughts - even his little habits, like the fact he plays with his hair when he’s deep in thought, or follows every little hand movement someone makes because he’s so used to tracking.

”You took longer than usual to come home. I began to fear you wouldn’t at all.” Ethari grumbles, though he can barely keep mad, they don’t have time to be angry at each other, or be upset with each other. There _will_ come a time when they won’t be able to smile, so for now he should.

”You can’t get rid of me that easily.” He adds, looking over to the man and walking towards him, pulling him from his little sulky place attached to the wall and pressing a firm kiss to his forehead, trying not to be too reactive to the fact Ethari leant into his touch. He embraces the man for a moment, but he can hear Raylas quiet matter of how they’re geezers and decides to give the girl a break.

”If I’m forgiven,” He begins, lightly nudging Ethari in the side with a teasing grin on his face, chuckling as his husband playfully dug him in the arm, turning back to face Rayla. “Which I think I am, we should all have dinner together.”

“You’re forgiven. _If_ you help me cook _.”_

Rayla giggles at that. Of course, Runaan goes out to get all the ingredients, then usually just disappears to get some rest rather than cook, because really Ethari is better than him when it comes to things like that, but she knows that Runaan is better when it comes to cutting things.

”I’m okay with that. You helpin’ rayla?”

They both look at her and for a moment, she’s stunned by how.. how they resemble her parents. They look at her like they care for her in a parental way. They treat her like their daughter. It’s.. different, but she doesn’t exactly dislike it.

”I might as well.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I saw this thing where rather than saying my boyfriend/my girlfriend Celtic people say My heart?? I found it cute so I slipped it in here and the first few chapters are probably gonna he introductions to characters / family dynamics-  
> Callum will be the next one ( ˘ ³˘)♥


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